Chapter 333 First Match  

First Match

"What do you mean changed?" Amelia asked.

They were supposed to meet Asher here, and spend some time showing the twins the Ranker's Dome before their matches started, which 2 hour later from now.

"Apparently, a lot more than a few matches ended too quickly, so they started Top 100 matches a bit early," Damian said while scratching his head.

Because End Year Tournament was a Seven Day tournament, each day a certain number of matches needed to be held, and it was made in an order in which Rankers would fight each day.

It was make the matches interesting to watch and also display the strength of the top ranking students in World Academy.

But for some reason, this time the matches were happening too quickly due to the reduced time limit per match.

It made the students go all out from the start, and the matches ended too quickly.

"At this rate the tournament will end too quickly," Amelia said as she looked at her ID Bracelet.

"Maybe they have something in mind," Damian replied as he gave up on thinking too much about this issue.

If they were rushing things a bit, maybe they had something planned but he didn't wanted to waste his energy thinking about it.

And their assumption was right, Farnus did make the matches end faster to make time for his surprise.

"Well, let's go to the Arena first, we can take the Portal in the Lobby Area," Damian suggested.

"Asher's match will start in 15 minutes so he should be already in the waiting area, we can meet him after the match," Amelia looked at the twins as she explained them the situation.

Especially Lucas, Amelia knew that Lucas looked upto Asher a lot.

But despite this news Lucas was excited to see Asher's duel.

At the Seat Holder's Area, Silvus and Alfred was watching over the duels but they hadn't seen anything too interesting till now.

"This year there are a lot of talented kids even in the Mid Ranks," Silvus commented after seeing the performance of a few mages.

"I am sure those Guilds will be fighting over a few of them," Alfred spoke,

"I am sure you will be surprised by the Top 100," Farnus added.

"But these kids are too impatient," Silvus added. "This generation have too many talented kids, so they feel the pressure to compete with them," Alfred added.

"I remember the last time such a thing happened, was when my Daughter was in World Academy," Alfred said as he remembered the old days.

Around this time, Amelia and Damian entered the VIP Section that was made for the Rankers to watch the matches.

Each of the Rankers were given seperate room to spectate the match from and they could invite people in their rooms as well.

As soon as they entered, the commentator announced the ending of the current matches.

"We will now move towards individual matches," The commentator announced.

"For the very first match, we will start with the Rank 1 of First Year, the Heir of the Greville Family, Asher Von Raven Greville!!" The commentator announced and the half of the crowd cheered loudly while half of them were silently praying for the victim that has to go against him.

"And for the opponent, the Rank 24 Carl Mearson," The commentator announced as two students stepped out to the Center Stage, which transformed into a single stage from the previous multiple one.

"Goodluck Carl, give it your and try to survive, it's your best chance to get the most marks," His friend cheered him on, but even Carl himself was nervous going against Asher.

Due to the way End Year Tournament worked, if you performed better against someone far above you, your chances of ranking up were higher, then the person who defeated the person one rank above him.

"So he is Asher Greville," The students from other academies were also excited to see the infamous Rank 1 of the First Year fight.

And not only them, but every single person was focused on the match.

"It seems your Grandson is attracting quite the eye," Silvus spoke as Alfred just smiled.

It had been a long time since Alfred had met Asher, and he could see how much the young boy had grown.

Even the Rankers of All four years had came to witness the match, and gauge the potential of Asher Greville with their own eyes.

"The rules remains the same, Don't attack someone who is on the ground, and if you don't stop on my call, we will forcefully separate you guys," The Referee said as Carl and Asher took their places.

"The Match will last for 10 minutes, and the winner will be decided by the Judges if no clear winner is found," The Referee said as he raised his hand and Carl and Asher took their positions.

Asher's blade was pointing the ground, and his guard wasn't up at all, on the other hand, Carl was gripping his sword tightly.

'Just a few minutes!' Carl repeatedly said to himself.

The result didn't matter for Carl, but he wanted to make the most out of this match.

The Crowd felt silent, as the Referee raised his hand and Carl channelled his mana to get ready while Asher kept looking at Carl with his indifferent eyes.

He covered his sword with aura, and kept himself calm despite getting nervous by looking at the indifferent crimson red eyes that were looking at him.

Just by looking at Asher, he was feeling pressured and it was obvious for the spectators as well.

"Go!" The Referee said, as Carl and Asher both didn't move for a few seconds.

Asher looked at Carl with his indifferent gaze, as he could see that Carl wasn't going to initiate an attack on him. "Don't waste my time," Asher said as disappeared from his spot and appeared mid air in front of Carl who was holding his sword covered with his aura.

Carl didn't even saw Asher move, but he was already in front of him.

Asher rotated his body as the black sword in his hand striked Carl's sword but instead of holding his position, it immediately broke through Carl's Rank C Sword, which was covered by his aura.

Due to the sheer impact of Asher's strike, Carl was sent flying towards the ground outside the stage ending the match in a second.

"Ah, Asher Greville has won the match!!" The Referee stumbled upon his words, but he still announced the winner of the match.

"He won!!" Lucas stood up from his seat to cheer for Asher, but the whole crowd was silent.

They expected the Duel to last at least 10 seconds, but it ended just like that.

Asher had already turned to leave even before the Referee announced the results.

The crowd started cheering after the match ended, but some people in the VIP Sections, didn't look happy with the results.

"Your grandson is attracting a lot of eyes," Silvus said to Alfred.

"Well, he is talented enough to attract those eyes," Alfred replied maintaining his calm face.

But he was impressed by Asher's performance as well, even if he didn't show it.

Farnus remained quite, while Silvus was thinking on his evaluation of Asher Greville.

"He is so strong!" Livia said looking at Amelia.

"Yeah," Amelia replied awkwardly.

Even she didn't expect the match to end just like that.

"Well, my match will half an hour later so we can meet Asher with the twins," Damian suggested.

Amelia nodded, while she looked at her match schedule which was after Damian.

In the other VIP Section,

"Do you think you can fight him?" Sam asked Matthew who had invited him to his room.

"Defeating him is impossible for me, but I can react to that speed," Matthew replied honestly.

"What about you? " Matthew asked,

He had sparred with Sam, he knew that Sam was much more stronger than his rank showed.

"I honestly would rather go against Kevin or you instead of him," Sam replied.

"But for my situation, he might be the better choice," Sam replied while shrugging his shoulders.

Matthew didn't knew why Sam was not increasing his rank, but after noticing what Jack his brother did to him, he could guess there were few things that Sam was hiding from him.

And Matthew didn't wanted to step in if Sam didn't wanted him to.

After all Matthew knew despite being strong, he didn't have any power to help Sam in his family situation.